New York Times Gains Digital Subscribers, But Revenue Drops

The New York Times Company reported its third quarter earnings today. Let’s go with the good news first. Circulation revenue at the company rose by seven percent during the last quarter, thanks in large part to the success of digital subscriptions. The number of digital subscribers to The New York Times and The International Herald Tribune rose to 566,000, an 11 percent increase since 2Q.

Now for the bad news. The company saw overall revenue drop by 0.6 percent, to $449 million. Revenue fell because ad earnings crashed by almost nine percent.

Arthur Sulzberger, of course, tried to stick to the positive news from the report. “While our results for the third quarter reflect continued pressure on advertising revenues, total circulation revenues rose, led by the ongoing expansion of our digital subscription base,” said Sulzberger, in a statement.